Hockey East Online

	Reebok Player of the Week Louis Liotti of Northeastern

WAKEFIELD, Mass. -- In an exciting weekend of play, No. 15 New Hampshire swept UMass-Lowell in a home and home series this weekend, while No. 5 Boston University took away three points after its home and home with No. 3 Boston College. No. 8 Northeastern and Maine each picked up two points in the league, while Massachusetts trampled Connecticut 5-1 in non-league play.

BU collected three points against BC this weekend, with a 1-1 tie on Friday, after the Terriers outshot the Eagles 36-22. John Muse (East Falmouth, Mass.) had a 35-save night helping to keep BC in the game. The next night at Conte Forum, BU earned a 3-1 victory behind Pro Ambitions Rookie of the Week Chris Connolly’s (Duluth, Minn.) game-winning goal (penalty shot), he also added an assist on Corey Trivino’s (Toronto, Ont.) first collegiate goal. Classmate Kieran Millan (Edmonton, Alta.) stopped 39 Eagles shots on the weekend, earning him Pure Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week honors.

UNH picked up a pair of league wins, behind Pure Hockey Co-Defensive Player of the Week Brian Foster’s (Pembroke, N.H.) second shut out of the season on Friday in a 2-0 victory over UML at Tsongas Arena. Foster stopped all 29 River Hawk shots on the night. The teams were back at it on Saturday, this time in Durham. The Wildcats again came out on top, earning a 3-2 victory over the River Hawks thanks to Blake Kessel’s (Verona, Wis.) power play goal with under two minutes to play in regulation. UML goaltender Nevin Hamilton (Ashland, Mass.) stopped 61 shots in the weekend series vs. the Wildcats.

Northeastern picked up another league victory in its last game of 2008. Maine brought the Huskies to overtime after the teams were knotted at two a piece through regulation. Reebok Player of the Week Louis Liotti (Westbury, N.Y.) notched two goals on the night including the game-winner halfway through the extra frame. Husky captain Joe Vitale (St. Louis, Mo.) added two assists on the night, while netminder Scott Darling (Lemont, Ill.) made 23 saves for Maine. The Black Bears continued their roadtrip to Merrimack on Sunday afternoon, where they picked up a 3-2 victory over the Warriors. Will O’Neill (Salem, Mass.) and Chris Hahn (Fort Qu’Appelle, Sask.) each tallied a pair of assists on the day, while MC’s Chris Barton (Calgary, Alta.) did the same in the losing effort.

In non-conference action, Massachusetts earned a convincing 5-1 victory over Connecticut Friday night, marking head coach Don Cahoon’s 300th career victory. Alex Berry (Danvers, Mass.) notched a short-handed goal, while teammate Chris Davis (Simsbury, Conn.) earned three points on the night, potting a goal and adding two assists. Providence fell to Quinnipiac, 5-2, on Friday in Hamden. Chris Eppich (Surrey, B.C.) and Matt Bergland (Fairbault, Minn.) tallied PC’s two goals. No. 12 Vermont picked up a 6-4 win over the USA Under-18 Team in an exhibition game at Gutterson Fieldhouse Friday night. Six Catamounts tallied multiple-point nights, while Corey Carlson (Two Harbors, Minn.) earned a team-high three, on his goal and pair of assists.

Championship Ticket Sales Jump: The TD Banknorth Garden Box Office reports that Hockey East fans purchased twice as many tickets for this year’s championships on opening weekend than last year. Tickets went on sale this past Saturday and can be purchased via www.ticketmaster.com or at the TD Banknorth Garden Box Office.

Chris Barton, MC (So., F, Calgary, Alb.) Assisted on both of Merrimack’s goals against Maine.

Bobby Butler, UNH (Jr., F, Marlboro, Mass.) Had three assists during the weekend including two on Saturday night with helpers on the first two goals of the night. He had an assist on the game-winner on Friday night at UMass-Lowell.

Scott Darling, Maine (Fr., G, Lemont, Ill.) Finished with a 2.45 GAA and a .909 save%…. Made 23 saves in 3-2 overtime loss to NU on Friday where he stopped 23 shots. Picked up a 3-2 victory over Merrimack on Sunday afternoon where he stopped 27 shots.

Nevin Hamilton, UML (Jr., G, Ashland, Mass.) Made 61 saves in two games for the River Hawks against the Wildcats. Hamilton stopped 33 shots in Friday’s game.

Blake Kessel, UNH (Fr., D, Verona, Wis.) Scored the game-winner on Saturday night against UMass-Lowell.

John McCarthy, BU (Sr., F, Andover, Mass.) Opened the scoring in the Terriers’ 1-1 tie with BC on Friday with his second goal of the year. Also earned an assist in the 3-1 road win over the Eagles on Saturday.

Gustav Nyquist, Maine (Fr., F, Malmo, Sweden) Had two points on the weekend (1g,1a), assisted on Maine’s 2nd goal which tied the game at 2-2 in Maine’s 3-2 overtime loss on Friday at Northeastern.

T.J. Syner, UMass (Fr., F, Springfield, Mass.) Scored his first collegiate goal and added two assists in UMass’ 5-1 win over Connecticut.

Don “Toot” Cahon, UMASS Earned his 300th win overall as a head coach over UConn

CHRIS EPPICH, PC (SURREY, B.C.) Recorded his first career goal on Friday at Quinnipiac

James Marcou, UMass (Kings Park, N.Y.) Now has 50 career points in 50 career games

Mike McLaughlin, NU (Seaforth, Ont.) Tallied his first career point with an assist on on Friday

John Muse, BC (East Falmouth, Mass.) Registered his 60th collegiate starts over the weekend. Muse is 34-16-10 in his career (2.30 GAA and a .918 save%)

Adam Ross, Merrimack (Red Deer, Alb.) Tallied his first career goal in his 47th career game

Corey Trivino, BU (Toronto, Ont.) Tallied his first career goal in the 3-1 win over BC on Saturday

James van Riemsdyk, UNH (MIDDLETOWN, N.J.) Has a nine-game scoring streak and has 14 points in that streak (4g, 10a, 1.55 ppg)

Dec. 10, 2005: UMass-Lowell sophomore Peter Vetri stops a school-record 53 shots against 12th-ranked New Hampshire.

Boston College: BC head coach Jerry York was nominated for Sports Illustrated’s Sportsman of the Year award…The team killed all eight Boston University power plays over the two-game series, extending their streak to 15 consecutive kills. BC is 25-for-26 (96.2 percent) in penaltykilling situations over the last six games…BC suffered its first loss to Boston University since Feb. 12, 2007, a 2-1 overtime victory in the Beanpot championship…BU outshot BC in both games, marking the second and third times this season that an opponent has outshot BC…Sophomore defenseman Nick Petrecki (Clifton Park, N.Y.) leads the team with a rating of +8…BU’s second-period penalty shot by Chris Connelly was the second taken against BC goalie John Muse and the first converted against the second-year goalie (PC John Mori missed an attempt on Feb. 29, 2008)…BC played in front of a Kelley Rink sellout crowd of 7,884 fans for the fourth time in nine home games this season.

Boston University: BU has scored first in each of its last seven games...The Terriers’ penalty kill has been successful 18 of its last 19 times, including a current streak of 11 straight...Led by sophomores Nick Bonino (Unionville, Conn.) and Kevin Shattenkirk (New Rochelle, N.Y.) at plus-10, all 18 BU skaters that played in home-and-home series with BC have a positive plus/minus rating this season...Five of senior John McCarthy’s (Andover, Mass.) 10 career goals have come against BC...Freshman Chris Connolly’s penalty-shot goal was the Terriers’ first since Gregg Johnson converted one on Oct. 25, 2002, in a 6-4 home win over Nebraska-Omaha... The Terriers have outshot their opponent in all 15 games so far this season...Freshman goaltender Kieran Millan is 7-1-1 so far in his career and his winning percentage of .833 ranks sixth in the nation. His GAA of 1.77 is ninth in the country...BU closes out its first half with a home contest against UMass Lowell on Friday (Dec. 12) and will be looking to enter its semester break with 11 victories for the first time since the 1999-00 campaign.

Maine: Junior Brett Carriere (Ottawa, Ont.) has two career goals and both have been game-winners against Merrimack this season…Maine is 5-0-0 this season when scoring three or more goals…Maine scored two goals in the first 2:59 of the game on Sunday at Merrimack…Twenty-two of Maine’s 52 assists this season have been recorded by defensemen… Maine is 6-2-0 when scoring first this season…Twelve different players scored at least one point on the weekend, with three players recording multi points…Maine has allowed two goals or less in nine of its last 11 games.

Massachusetts: UMass has gone 0-for-12 on the power play in the last two games…The UMass penalty kill has gone 18-for-19 over the last five games (11/21-12/5)…UMass has short handed goals in each of the last two games…In games won this year, UMass is averaging 5.3 goals per game and is 7-for-31 on the power play, while in games lost, UMass is averaging 1.2 goals per game and is 2-for-27 on the power play…UMass has scored 14 goals in the first period and 11 goals in the second period of games won, while just scoring two in each of those periods of games lost…UMass is 3-1-1 against teams ranked in the nation’s top-5 this season…UMass is 7-1-0 when scoring three or more goals this year…UMass ranks 13th nationally in attendance (5,188).

UMass-Lowell: The River Hawks have lost two straight for the second time this season … Friday’s loss was the first time UML was shutout this year…Saturday was the River Hawks’ first Hockey East road loss of the season…Nevin Hamilton made 33 saves Friday night, the fourth time in five starts against New Hampshire he had at least 30 saves…The River Hawks conclude their first half schedule Friday night at Boston University…UML has a power play in five straight games against BU and is 9-for-25 (36.0%) on the power play in the last seven meetings…Maury Edwards Rocky Rapids, Alb.) has eight career points (4g,4a) in seven games against the Terriers.

Merrimack: Rob Ricci (Brampton, Ont.) has goals in three straight games...Chris Barton (Calgary, Alb.), who leads the Warriors with 11 points, has four assists on Merrimack’s last five goals…In his seventh career start, Joe Cannata (Wakefield, Mass.) lost his first collegiate game in regulation…Adam Ross (Red Deer, Alb.), who tallied a game-high five shots in Sunday’s 3-2 loss to Maine, potted his first collegiate goal in his 47th career game…Merrimack has not won this season on any day other than Saturday…The Warriors have 22 days between games and will take on Quinnipiac on December 29th at the UConn Holiday Classic…Merrimack will go 27 days between home games, with the next game at Lawler Arena scheduled for January 3 against the U.S. Under-18 Team…The Warriors are the only Hockey East team without a shorthanded goal.

New Hampshire: The Wildcats captured back to back games against UMass-Lowell to avenge an early 8-2 loss and win their first season series of 2008-09...UNH will conclude 2008 with a non-conference game against Holy Cross on Thursday (7 p.m.) at Whittemore Center...Friday night’s win was the first road win of the season for the Wildcats...Brian Foster stopped 29 shots to register his second shutout of the season and fourth of his career...Two of those shutouts have come at the hands of the River Hawks...On Friday night Peter LeBlanc (Hamilton, Ont.) scored his seventh goal of the season, he had just six goals in his first two seasons at UNH...James van Riemsdyk, Kevin Kapstad (Boxboro, Mass.) and Bobby Butler are riding multi-game scoring streaks of nine, four and three games respectively...In a closely contest Hockey East, UNH moved from tied for seventh to tied for third with its two league wins.

Northeastern: Senior defenseman Louis Liotti doubled his career goal total with a pair of goals on Friday against Maine. He has a 4-17-21 line in 122 career games. It was Liotti’s second game-winner and first overtime goal...Northeastern is 5-1-5 in overtime games over the last two seasons...Northeastern won 11 games before New Year’s for the second time ever, the other being 1985-86...NU has its third-most wins through 15 games behind only 1980-81 (13-2-0) and 1981-82 (12- 3-1)...Northeastern swept the season-series from Maine for the first time since 1984-85, the first season of Hockey East play...As part of Hockey East’s 25th anniversary celebration, Northeastern will name a Hockey East All-Northeastern team featuring six forwards, four defensemen and two goalies who played for Northeastern while it was a member of Hockey East. It will be decided by a committee vote and an online fan vote on GoNU.com.

Providence College: The Friars have scored 14 of their 31 goals in the third period this season…Junior co-captain John Cavanagh (Warwick, R.I.) is on a four-game point streak (2g,2a)…Freshman Matt Bergland (Faribault, Minn.) has registered at least one point in nine of the 15 games this season… He continues to lead the team in scoring with 14 points (four goals, 10 assists)…Junior Mark Fayne (Sagamore Beach, Mass.) has tallied three of his four points this season in the last four games…The Friars will face Brown University in the 23rd Annual Mayor’s Cup on Tuesday…The Friars are 12-8-2 all-time in the Mayor’s Cup.

Vermont: The Catamounts are 19-9-2 in their last 30 games against Hockey East opponents dating back to Jan. 19 of last season…Ten different players recorded a point and six players had multi-point games in a 6-4 win over the USA U-18 Team on Friday. Freshman goalie John Vazzano (Trumbull, Conn.) made 12 saves in the third period to pick up the win…Only Cornell (1), Air Force (2), Minnesota (2) and Princeton (2) have fewer losses than Vermont (9-3-2, 6-3-1 HEA) so far this season…The Catamounts have the eighth fewest penalty minutes per game (13.4) in the country…Vermont is 3-0-1 in non-conference play and visits St. Lawrence on Saturday…The contest marks the 81st meeting between the two schools with the Saints holding a 42-35-3 edge in the all-time series…Vermont has played St. Lawrence the second most of any school in program history behind only New Hampshire.